scitek
01-25-2008, 10:27 PM
Jan. 20th, 2008 4pm.
I'm driving to work and decide to take a back road. I'm driving along and I see this pickup truck ahead of me driving kinda slowly. The truck is coming up on an intersection of sorts, with two two-way stops on either side. The turn on the left is about 5 feet past the turn on the right, and the truck is almost past the turn on the right, so I assume it's going to make the left turn. I decide I'll try and pass the truck before its turn is made.
Dumb move.
The truck ended up turning right, which was also, coincidentally, right into my car.
Well, despite the accident not being too bad, I'm freaked out anyway and run out of my car to see if the other people are alright. I get over there to see an older woman, maybe in her 60s, and an older guy with her in the passenger seat. The woman was visibly shaken, she was breathing heavily and wide-eyed, but the guy seemed calm and collected, saying things like "Well, accidents happen," and "not to worry about it."
I looked over the damage done to the cars - I'd guess there may have been $1000 or so worth of damage done to their truck -- a 90s Ford Ranger -- I had scratched and dented the door pretty good, and the front-right rim's centercap had been torn off, but everything else seemed alright. I began to panic because I don't have the best driving record and having this on my insurance would be bad, so I offer to pay for the damages if they don't call the cops, but it was too late, the woman had already called them. Also, this woman had been on her way to see her daughter, and the accident happened right down the street from her daughter's house...like three houses down. So her daughter comes running out and tries asking me for my personal info and ****, and I'm both freaked and pissed, and I come off as an ass to her with a "That'll all be in the police report." She responds with a "boy, you're a real smartass, huh?" and starts telling me that her dad and husband are dead, and that her mom's all she's got and that her mom had had heart surgery the week before, and I'd better consider getting a good lawyer.
About 10 minutes later, Georgia State Patrol rolls up and begins to look things over and ask questions. I give my account of the accident (exactly what I said above), and the other people give theirs. He goes back into his car for another 10 minutes, meanwhile, the woman's daughter begins saying to her mom things like "You've gotta go to the doctor now and get checked up at least" and whatnot. The cop comes back out of the car and hands me a citation for "passing on the shoulder" and asks for proof of insurance. I fumble through my wallet and pull out a card that says I'm covered through Feb. 23rd, 2008 and he says "alright" and, after I ask him a ton of questions about whether or not they got a citation for turning without a blinker (he explained to me that he wasn't there to see it and that they showed him their blinkers worked fine, so no he hadn't), I leave.
Jan 21st, 2008, 1pm
Well, the next day I go to the insurance place to go ahead and notify them about the accident, and I get the equivalent to being shot with a .45 to the heart.
"We show this policy terminated on January 1st."
I almost lost it. "WHAT? You're kidding!"
"Nope, I'm positive."
"Oh God, what the...HOW?!"
The secretary brought me back to see the guy that initially instated my policy and he tells me I hadn't paid since October and that the policy had lapsed on the 1st of the year. I tell him I hadn't received any notice of an auto insurance policy lapsing, but I had received notice of my LIFE insurance policy lapsing a full TWO WEEKS after it had been sent (literally two days earlier on the 19th). All of this was apparently because my address had not been updated when I had changed to a new car on October 25th even though I had gone to the place and given the guy (a new guy I don't know, he looks to be about my age --25) my license directly just so he could update my address. I tell him I've never received a single statement since I moved on Nov. 1st, and the Life insurance notice was the first thing I had received in the last three months PERIOD. In addition to this, the "new guy" I talked to last, when I asked if I owed anything at the current time, responded with a "No, you're covered through the year."
I ask if there's ANYTHING that can be done about this and he tells me "I'd have to get in touch with an Underwriter but they had all gone home for the day."
Why this is a HUGE ****ing deal to me.
Back in August of last year, I got busted for driving without insurance and just skated by without the state's full penalty being enforced on me -- which is to lose your license for a year and pay a huge fine -- by pleading No Contest and paying a fine of $656 plus 6 months of probation. Well, you can only do that once every five years, and since I've used it up, if it gets to the cops that I was driving AGAIN uninsured, I have no idea what will happen. I'll lose my license for at least a year, I know that much, maybe as much as five years, and since I'm on probation, I might even see some jail time. The fine would be out-of-control high, and the lasting effects would be disastrous. To top it all off, I deliver food for a living (I like the short hours and I make plenty to pay for what little living costs I have), and would also lose my job as a result.
The insurance company is investigating everything right now since I'm contesting that I should have been covered, but I know they're just getting their ducks in a row and covering their asses so I can't sue them. The woman I talked to today from the insurance company asked me like 40 questions and recorded our conversation, but I don't mind all that if it means something might change (I'm not counting on it). I told her, "Look, it's not a matter of me not paying you because I couldn't afford it or whatever, it's that I didn't know I owed you money. I'm more than willing to pay for anything owed in the past if it means you'll handle this." She didn't seem too sympathetic toward me, though, and she decided to throw in "Yeah, cuz she was HURT. She's in the hospital."
"She IS?!"
"She WAS, she's home now. She uses us, too."
Anyway, on Tuesday, my car overheated and it needs a new thermostat just as a little icing on the cake. We tried to change it out today, but it'll need to be put up on a stand and looked at by a shop since the thermostat is literally on top of the water pump. So, my week's been pretty ****ty since, and I haven't been able to eat or sleep knowing my life could completely change from this ****, but I suppose it's not the end of the world...yet.
Hope your week's going better.
:\
I'm driving to work and decide to take a back road. I'm driving along and I see this pickup truck ahead of me driving kinda slowly. The truck is coming up on an intersection of sorts, with two two-way stops on either side. The turn on the left is about 5 feet past the turn on the right, and the truck is almost past the turn on the right, so I assume it's going to make the left turn. I decide I'll try and pass the truck before its turn is made.
Dumb move.
The truck ended up turning right, which was also, coincidentally, right into my car.
Well, despite the accident not being too bad, I'm freaked out anyway and run out of my car to see if the other people are alright. I get over there to see an older woman, maybe in her 60s, and an older guy with her in the passenger seat. The woman was visibly shaken, she was breathing heavily and wide-eyed, but the guy seemed calm and collected, saying things like "Well, accidents happen," and "not to worry about it."
I looked over the damage done to the cars - I'd guess there may have been $1000 or so worth of damage done to their truck -- a 90s Ford Ranger -- I had scratched and dented the door pretty good, and the front-right rim's centercap had been torn off, but everything else seemed alright. I began to panic because I don't have the best driving record and having this on my insurance would be bad, so I offer to pay for the damages if they don't call the cops, but it was too late, the woman had already called them. Also, this woman had been on her way to see her daughter, and the accident happened right down the street from her daughter's house...like three houses down. So her daughter comes running out and tries asking me for my personal info and ****, and I'm both freaked and pissed, and I come off as an ass to her with a "That'll all be in the police report." She responds with a "boy, you're a real smartass, huh?" and starts telling me that her dad and husband are dead, and that her mom's all she's got and that her mom had had heart surgery the week before, and I'd better consider getting a good lawyer.
About 10 minutes later, Georgia State Patrol rolls up and begins to look things over and ask questions. I give my account of the accident (exactly what I said above), and the other people give theirs. He goes back into his car for another 10 minutes, meanwhile, the woman's daughter begins saying to her mom things like "You've gotta go to the doctor now and get checked up at least" and whatnot. The cop comes back out of the car and hands me a citation for "passing on the shoulder" and asks for proof of insurance. I fumble through my wallet and pull out a card that says I'm covered through Feb. 23rd, 2008 and he says "alright" and, after I ask him a ton of questions about whether or not they got a citation for turning without a blinker (he explained to me that he wasn't there to see it and that they showed him their blinkers worked fine, so no he hadn't), I leave.
Jan 21st, 2008, 1pm
Well, the next day I go to the insurance place to go ahead and notify them about the accident, and I get the equivalent to being shot with a .45 to the heart.
"We show this policy terminated on January 1st."
I almost lost it. "WHAT? You're kidding!"
"Nope, I'm positive."
"Oh God, what the...HOW?!"
The secretary brought me back to see the guy that initially instated my policy and he tells me I hadn't paid since October and that the policy had lapsed on the 1st of the year. I tell him I hadn't received any notice of an auto insurance policy lapsing, but I had received notice of my LIFE insurance policy lapsing a full TWO WEEKS after it had been sent (literally two days earlier on the 19th). All of this was apparently because my address had not been updated when I had changed to a new car on October 25th even though I had gone to the place and given the guy (a new guy I don't know, he looks to be about my age --25) my license directly just so he could update my address. I tell him I've never received a single statement since I moved on Nov. 1st, and the Life insurance notice was the first thing I had received in the last three months PERIOD. In addition to this, the "new guy" I talked to last, when I asked if I owed anything at the current time, responded with a "No, you're covered through the year."
I ask if there's ANYTHING that can be done about this and he tells me "I'd have to get in touch with an Underwriter but they had all gone home for the day."
Why this is a HUGE ****ing deal to me.
Back in August of last year, I got busted for driving without insurance and just skated by without the state's full penalty being enforced on me -- which is to lose your license for a year and pay a huge fine -- by pleading No Contest and paying a fine of $656 plus 6 months of probation. Well, you can only do that once every five years, and since I've used it up, if it gets to the cops that I was driving AGAIN uninsured, I have no idea what will happen. I'll lose my license for at least a year, I know that much, maybe as much as five years, and since I'm on probation, I might even see some jail time. The fine would be out-of-control high, and the lasting effects would be disastrous. To top it all off, I deliver food for a living (I like the short hours and I make plenty to pay for what little living costs I have), and would also lose my job as a result.
The insurance company is investigating everything right now since I'm contesting that I should have been covered, but I know they're just getting their ducks in a row and covering their asses so I can't sue them. The woman I talked to today from the insurance company asked me like 40 questions and recorded our conversation, but I don't mind all that if it means something might change (I'm not counting on it). I told her, "Look, it's not a matter of me not paying you because I couldn't afford it or whatever, it's that I didn't know I owed you money. I'm more than willing to pay for anything owed in the past if it means you'll handle this." She didn't seem too sympathetic toward me, though, and she decided to throw in "Yeah, cuz she was HURT. She's in the hospital."
"She IS?!"
"She WAS, she's home now. She uses us, too."
Anyway, on Tuesday, my car overheated and it needs a new thermostat just as a little icing on the cake. We tried to change it out today, but it'll need to be put up on a stand and looked at by a shop since the thermostat is literally on top of the water pump. So, my week's been pretty ****ty since, and I haven't been able to eat or sleep knowing my life could completely change from this ****, but I suppose it's not the end of the world...yet.
Hope your week's going better.
:\